The present invention generally relates to digital signal processors. More particularly, the invention relates to clock control for multi-core digital signal processors. Still more particularly, the invention relates to preservation of clocks to shared components when individual subsystems become idle.
Microprocessors generally include a variety of logic circuits fabricated on a single semiconductor chip. Such logic circuits typically include a processor core, memory, and numerous other support components. Some microprocessors, such as digital signal processors (DSPs) provided by Texas Instruments, may include multiple processor subsystems each having its own processor core. Each processor subsystem includes memory and other support components for the associated processor core.
DSPs are generally sought for computationally intensive tasks because they have hardware specially designed for high performance computing. Nevertheless, it is generally desirable for microprocessors such as DSPs to be compact, consume very little power, and generate as little heat as possible. This is especially true for DSPs that reside in small, battery-powered devices such as cellular telephones, pagers, and the like. Accordingly, any improvement in DSP technology that results in smaller and lighter devices that require less power is highly desirable, particularly if improvements avoid reducing the maximum available computational performance.